Thursday, October 21, 2010

Welcome to the Pond Magic Blog Tour

If you listen closely you can hear the sound of champagne fizzing and crackers crunching. I’ve even decorated my blog in pond slime green. I’m having a party and everyone is invited.

I’ve had the pleasure to be involved in a number of wonderful blog tours in recent times. It’s particularly exciting today to welcome Angela Sunde with her debut novel, sure to be the first of many. Pond Magic is an Aussie Chomp and as any writer will tell you, it’s very, very hard to be published in Penguin’s prestigious Nibbles, Chomps and Bites series.

Pond Magic didn’t start life as an Aussie Chomp and when the first draft finished it was at least 3,000 words over the guideline limit. Some good advice from a Queensland Writer’s Centre editorial consultation saw the story polished to fit and the rest is the stuff fairy tales are made of. As you read my review below you will see Pond Magic is a fairy tale too! While I am in fairy tale mode (yes I have a princess dress on!), I’m going to send you on a quest. Drop in to Angela’s blog here and read her very own personal fairy tale, where her dream of becoming an author is realised

Pond Magic by Angela Sunde, Penguin Aussie Chomps series, rrp $12.95

Poor Lily Padd. It’s bad enough to have name like that but now she’s turning green. She’s a rocket in the pool with her newly webbed feet but her burps are causing sever embarrassment and the wart on her face is the last straw. It’s hard hiding the changes from the kids at school but now her best friend is acting odd and mum has invited a French exchange student to stay.

A fair maiden turning into a frog! There must be magic in the air. When the elderly neighbour admits she is a witch and Lily learns her hide-out in Mrs Swan’s shed has exposed her to some ‘not quite right magic’, the solution is obvious. But where is Lily going to find a handsome Prince?

I love fairytales. There’s something timeless and classic about their stories. Pond Magic is proof of this – a thoroughly modern setting and cast with a familiar ring of magic and message. Lily has problems common to most twelve-year-old girls – irritating siblings, annoying boys and a falling out with her best friend. Life is almost ordinary - except that she needs to kiss a Prince to stop turning into a frog.

This story is fun. The urban fairytale plotline will allow less confident readers to predict and enjoy while competent readers will race through to discover what really happens at ‘the kiss’.

Hi Sandy and Angela, Great to find you here and learn a little more about the Aussie Chomps publishing series. I have a book I hope will "fit" into the submission guidelines.I bought Angela's fabulous little book at the CYA conference. I love her appealing characters and story line ...Karen :))